Weekend Adventures
Homesickness has been overwhelming me a little more than expected. My family is my everything so it has been difficult to feel so detached. As workweeks seemed to get slower as each passed by, I became more aware of my homesickness. But thank goodness I had some sort of adventure to look forward to each weekend. We visited Kintampo waterfalls which was one of the most incredible experiences ever! Water is very healing for me and I’ve always been a “water baby” spending most of my childhood at the beach. Getting to just sit under the water was so amazing. It was absolutely worth the five-hour bus ride there. Over one of our weekends, we also visited Lake Bosomtwe, the largest crater-made lake in West Africa. The visitors center told us all about the creation of the lake and the 20+ communities that live around the lake. We walked to a little resort and spent a couple of hours lounging on the beach and in the water. Another thing we did throughout the week was visit the bike factory for the Ghana Bamboo Bike initiative. There, we got to learn about the whole process of creating the bikes. As part of my project, I was helping Bright Generation design a new factory to streamline the process and increase production. At the time we were visiting, the team was in the finishing up assembling 85 bikes to distribute to a few schools in Accra over the next few days. As for the bike itself, the frames are made of bamboo and then completed with recycled handlebars, gears, etc. I loved learning about the processes and long list of steps from sourcing the bamboo at one of Bright Generation’s multiple plantations to a completed bike ready for use. After visiting, I was able to design a new factory that had more places for storage and separate sections for each stage of the process. The current factory is slightly unorganized and Solomon and Bernice wanted me to see what I could do!
The slower work schedule is still something I’m struggling with and the days go by slow. But I’m enjoying my project. I’m excited to see my hydroponics system completed and eventually implemented in the future.
